WHY SPOT BEAMS?
Spot beams take satellites to the next level. Spot beams enable EchoStar to deliver more local channels to specific, precisely defined areas, improving its ability to compete with cable broadcasters. Echo I through Echo VI satellites use beams that cover the entire nation. To provide local broadcast coverage, channels intended for only one local market are scrambled so customers elsewhere cannot view them. The new spot beam satellites are designed to aim spot beams at selected metropolitan markets, allowing the same radio frequencies to be reused in different cities, thus increasing the channel capacity. For example, by focusing over a very small area, like the New York City metropolitan area, the frequency can be reused in several other places like Miami, San Francisco and Chicago (these cities are used as examples, and will not actually share the same spot beam frequency). EchoStar VII and EchoStar VIII are both spot beam satellites.
